Sunday night, a lone gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip opened fire on a country music festival, killing at least 58 people and injuring at least 500 others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
The Washington Post reports, Gunman in Las Vegas kills at least 58, injures 500 more in shooting rampage:
The gunman, identified by police as Stephen Paddock, age 64, was later found dead by officers on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said during a news briefing Monday.
The massacre marked the nation’s latest outbreak of gunfire and bloodshed to erupt in a public place, again spreading terror in an American city transformed into a war zone. The carnage in Las Vegas surpassed the 49 people slain in June 2016 when a gunman in Orlando, who later said he was inspired by the Islamic State, opened fire inside a crowded nightclub.
Lombardo said investigators could not immediately identify a motive, leaving no clear answer as to why a gunman killed at least 58 people and possibly more. He also said an additional 515 people were injured, though he did not specify how many were wounded by gunfire or injured in the chaos that followed.
Paddock was found dead in his hotel room by Las Vegas SWAT officers, police said. They believe Paddock, who had checked in on Thursday and brought a cache of guns into the room, took his own life.
Under the neon glow and glitz of the Vegas Strip, thousands of concertgoers who had gathered for a three-day music festival dove for cover or raced toward shelter when the gunfire began at about 10 p.m. Sunday. Police said more than 22,000 people were at the concert when Paddock began firing round after round, shooting from an elevated position that left those on the ground effectively helpless. The typical advice for reacting to an active shooter — “run, hide or fight” — was rendered moot, as many in the packed crowd could not easily run or hide, nor were they able to fight back at someone firing from so far away.
Police described Paddock as a “lone wolf” attacker. Lombardo did not give further details on Paddock’s background and possible motivation, saying that police “have no idea what his belief system was.”
“I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath,” Lombardo said during a later briefing Monday. He also said that given the belief that Paddock was a lone attacker, “I don’t know how this could have been prevented.”
Police said Paddock smashed his room’s window — which would appear to those below to be gold — with something similar to a hammer before he began to fire, pumping off rounds that were audible in rooms floors away. Paddock was found with more than 10 rifles, Lombardo said, and he brought them all inside himself.
One official familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified discussing it, said the scene inside the hotel room suggested Paddock had spent a lot of time meticulously planning the attack – particularly for someone with no known background in weaponry.
The official pointed to a number of factors suggesting the foresight and deliberation that went into the attack – bringing a large quantity of weapons and ammunition, a tool to knock out the hotel room window before firing and keeping all of that equipment out of sight of hotel staff until he was ready to carry out the attack.
Relatives of Paddock’s said they were stunned by what happened. Paddock had retired and lived in Mesquite, Tex., for several years before moving to the Nevada town with the same name. Relatives described him as a quiet man, a licensed pilot who liked to gamble. His brother, Eric, said their mother spoke to the FBI.
“She said, ‘I don’t understand why my son did this,’” Eric Paddock said Monday morning outside his home in Orlando. While his brother had some handguns, Eric Paddock but was shocked by the weaponry police described in Las Vegas.
Eric Paddock said he did not know of his brother having any mental illness, alcohol or drug problems. When he spoke to the FBI, Eric Paddock said he showed FBI agents three years of text messages from his brother, including one that mentioning winning $250,000 at a casino. Stephen Paddock played “high stakes video poker,” Eric said, adding that he did not have any information suggesting the 64-year-old gunman had gambling debts or financial issues.
Their father, Benjamin, was one of the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives decades ago, a convicted bank robber described in one wanted poster as “psychopathic” with suicidal tendencies. Eric Paddock told reporters that Benjamin, their father, was not around much during their childhood.
* * *
As Las Vegas police investigated the horror that had unfolded on the Strip, they also faced a tragedy within their own ranks. The dead included an off-duty city police officer, the department said Monday morning. Two other officers who were on duty were injured, police said; one was in stable condition after surgery, and the other sustained minor injuries.
“It’s a devastating time,” Lombardo said at one of the news briefings he held.
In the initial chaotic aftermath of the shooting, authorities sought a woman named Marilou Danley, described only as Paddock’s “traveling companion.” Lombardo said during a briefing that investigators spoke with Danley, who was found outside the country, and do not believe she was involved in the shooting, though she remained a person of interest.
Her relationship with Stephen Paddock was not immediately known, but they lived at the same address in Mesquite, Nev., according to public records. Lombardo said police in Mesquite searched Paddock’s home on Monday.
Police in Las Vegas had only minimal interactions with Paddock before the shooting, Lombardo said.
“We have no investigative information or background associated with this individual that is derogatory,” the sheriff said. “The only thing we can tell is he received a citation several years ago; that citation was handled as a matter of normal practice in the court system.”
* * *
On Monday President Trump praised the “miraculous” speed with which local law enforcement responded to the shooting, which he decried as an unfathomable attack on innocents gathered for a concert.
“It was an act of pure evil,” Trump said during remarks from the White House. “We cannot fathom their pain, we cannot imagine their loss.”
Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff and said he would visit Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Federal homeland security officials said there were no specific, credible threats to other public venues around the country, while federal agents headed to Las Vegas to support the local police leading the investigation.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it dispatched agents and began “conducting urgent traces on firearms” recovered after the shooting. FBI criminal investigators — rather than those in the bureau’s National Security Branch — are also helping local police in the case, according to a person familiar with the matter.
* * *
“We have determined, to this point, no connection with an international terrorist group,” Aaron Rouse, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Las Vegas, said at a news briefing.
* * *
The shooting occurred at the end of the Route 91 Harvest festival, a three-day country music concert held over the weekend. The concert grounds are adjacent to the Mandalay Bay, a sprawling casino on the southern end of the Strip.
The shots began as Jason Aldean, one of the final performers, was playing. Aldean posted an Instagram message that he and his crew were safe. The scene, he wrote, was “beyond horrific.”
* * *
At least some people were injured in the frenzied effort to flee the gunfire. Tracy, 55, a California woman who declined to give her last name, said she was “trampled” trying to flee.
BREAKING: The New York Times reports that “More than 19 rifles were found in the hotel room of the gunman in the Las Vegas mass shooting, a law enforcement official confirmed, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”
“Among the weapons authorities discovered were two rifles with scopes on tripods positioned in front of the two windows that had been broken out, a law enforcement official said.”
Hotel security at Mandalay Bay Resort are going to have some questions that law enforcement and th FBI want answered.
You have got to be kidding, in a darkly sick way. This is nowhere near the deadliest mass killing in American history. Native Americans have been wiped out in much higher numbers. Some were battles — others were mass killings. Please don’t try to wipe our memories of this genocide.
right on! you said it.
The White Privilege of the “Lone Wolf” Shooter
Shaun King
October 2 2017, 3:59 p.m.
…
We must ask ourselves: Why do certain acts of violence absolutely incense Trump and his base while others only elicit warm thoughts and prayers? This is the deadliest mass shooting in American history! Where is the outrage? Where are the policy proposals?
What we are witnessing is the blatant fact that white privilege protects even Stephen Paddock, an alleged mass murderer, not just from being called a terrorist, but from the anger, rage, hellfire, and fury that would surely rain down if he were almost anyone other than a white man. His skin protects him. It also prevents our nation from having an honest conversation about why so many white men do what he did, and why this nation seems absolutely determined to do next to nothing about it.
…
https://theintercept.com/2017/10/02/lone-wolf-white-privlege-las-vegas-stephen-paddock/
“What we are witnessing is the blatant fact that white privilege protects even Stephen Paddock, an alleged mass murderer, not just from being called a terrorist, but from the anger, rage, hellfire, and fury that would surely rain down if he were almost anyone other than a white man. His skin protects him.”
No, his skin does not protect him. He is rightly being excoriated by everyone that talks about him. His memory is not getting any special treatment because he was white. This little diatribe is typical of irrational statements made by those who make their living attacking whites under any pretense, no matter how blatantly dumb the statements might be.
“It also prevents our nation from having an honest conversation about why so many white men do what he did…”
For criminy sake, there is no end to the “honest conversations” certain people are having when it comes to condemning whites for all the ills of the world.
“…and why this nation seems absolutely determined to do next to nothing about it.”
Constitutional rights are sometimes inconvenient and often get in the way of what certain people would like to see happen under circumstances like this incident in Las Vegas. It is unlikely that any laws or restrictions would have kept this bastard from doing what he did. Indeed, the only people that would be affected by more gun control laws and restrictions would be the law abiding gun owner/citizen.
Posted on Facebook:
Rep. Martha McSally
Yesterday at 5:47am ·
I am deeply saddened by the last night’s devastating shooting in Las Vegas. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.
Arizona congressional candidates who received NRA contributions in 2016, McSally tops the list at $6,500:
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?id=D000000082&type=P&cycle=2016&sort=A&state=AZ
Isn’t it interesting that the contributions for an individual candidate often aren’t that much.
I dunno. If I were going to sell my soul to the Devil I think I’d want more than what they are getting.
So tell me again what the NRA does? Because they seem to be an arm of the GOP.
Fearmongering and threats. I can’t believe the average NRA member approves of this garbage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGa-GoILV9Y
My post is waiting on arbitration, sorry AZ, I included some links unintentionally.
But this matters, so here the NRA response, finally, to LV.
“Right after we ban pools, cars, cigarettes, alcohol, hands feet & fists. Lives lost due to these constitute an epidemic.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 3, 2017”
“If it’s a “health issue,” cars, then hand, feet, and fists will be banned first (also pools).
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 3, 2017”
So there you go. The NRA is worried about white men in high rise buildings committing mass murder with their feet.
Their feet.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with feet is a good guy with feet.
Better to have feet and not need them than to need feet and not have them.
Feet don’t kill people, people with feet kill people.
A foot in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
Forget the dog, beware the owner’s feet.
You can have my feet when you pry them from my cold, dead hands!
If feet are outlawed, only outlaws will have feet.
Protect your right to bare feet!
And finally the NRA speaks!
Right after we ban pools, cars, cigarettes, alcohol, hands feet & fists. Lives lost due to these constitute an epidemic. https://t.co/vVPgfOdY3Z
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 3, 2017
If it’s a “health issue,” cars, then hand, feet, and fists will be banned first (also pools). https://t.co/IpWDMiSjw3
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 3, 2017
I can’t imagine how we’ll ever be able to defend ourselves from a man in a high rise hotel murdering dozens of people with feet!!!!!
Lordy! People pay money to belong to that organization.
Feet!
And finally the NRA speaks!
Right after we ban pools, cars, cigarettes, alcohol, hands feet & fists. Lives lost due to these constitute an epidemic.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 3, 2017
If it’s a “health issue,” cars, then hand, feet, and fists will be banned first (also pools).
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 3, 2017
I can’t imagine how we’ll ever be able to defend ourselves from a man in a high rise hotel murdering dozens of people with feet!!!!!
Lordy! People pay money to belong to that organization.
Feet!
Number of Americans killed on battlefields in all wars in history:
1,396,733
Killed by firearms in the US since 1968:
1,516,863
The NRA is a terrorist organization.
the cbs executive who was fired for not being a liberal punching bag. remember the corporate state says to establishment democrats remember when they go low you go high. so high in the air no one can see you. you are a punching bag or else! your job is to look foolish like hillary clinton who came out against silencers today when they weren’t even used. the democrat establishment job is to keep guns from black people (other then criminals who are no threat to the corporate state) and as a by product scare gullible whites into voting repug. establishment democrats assigned job by the corporate state is to control the left so they are no threat, and screaming gun control keeps blacks from arming themselves to protect the ghetto and keep the number of democrats down from losing to repugs over gun control. that is why the woman at cbs had to be fired to scare off the left.
Captain Mark Kelly’s speech today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeUbWgvrq9w
Arizona Congresswoman Martha McSally received $6,500 from the NRA during the last election cycle.
Today, on her Twitter feed…
“I am deeply saddened by last night’s devastating shooting in Las Vegas. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.
— Martha McSally (@RepMcSally) October 2, 2017”
Hey, Martha, you gun nuts offer thoughts and prayers every time this kind of thing happens. Guess what?
Thoughts and prayers are not working.
And all day long the right wing echo chamber is saying “there’s nothing we can do”.
Which reminds me of the headline on TheOnion.
“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens”
The NRA used to be about sport hunting and gun safety, over the last few decades they’ve become the marketing department for gun makers, and they somehow get people to pay them to scare them into buying more guns.
Anyone taking NRA money has blood on their hands.
We’re going to talk about gun control this time.
From Tengrain at Crooks & Liars:
“Each hollow thoughts and prayers tweet from equally hollow politicians should be followed by whatever the blood money that the NRA donated to said politician”
[Editor’s Note: the always excellent @igorvolsky on Twitter reports after every single mass gun shooting how much NRA blood money each thoughts-and-prayers politician has taken.]
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/10/wayne-lapierre-and-entire-nra-can-go
Gabby Gifford’s American For Responsible Solutions would be wise to pick up on this theme for every ad run against House & Senate NRA owned lickspittles. For that matter so should the Democratic Party.
Martha posted the same thing on Facebook, thoughts and prayers blah blah blah. The folks in the comments are letting her have it.
“Hey, Martha, you gun nuts offer thoughts and prayers every time this kind of thing happens. Guess what? Thoughts and prayers are not working.”
I almost passed this comment up without bothering to challenge you about it, but then I remembered that you are, once again, making yourself the authority on religion and things of faith. So…
You have no idea if the thoughts and prayers are working or not. What you would like to see happen isn’t, so you decide for everyone that thoughts and prayers aren’t cutting it. But you have no idea what the thoughts and prayers are asking for and you ignore the simple truth that it is possible they pray for the dead and the wounded and those who will suffer from what they went through. In the immediacy of the moment, it is possible the thoughts and prayers are focused on right now, and not necessarily the future.
The truth is, Tom, that your ignorance of what and for whom the thoughts and prayers are being offered is astounding. Other people may not be doing what you want, but you have no idea as to whether or not it is effective.
“VIGIL TO REMEMBER LAS VEGAS
LIVES TAKEN
BODIES PHYSICALLY WOUNDED
MINDS & HEARTS EMOTIONALLY WOUNDED
And the families and friends of all of the above.
Please join in tonight at Himmel Park (Hippie hill/amphitheater), Tucson Boulevard just south of Speedway. 7PM
The vigil in honor of Las Vegas, where 59 people were killed and 500+ were injured late last night.” (from Patricia Maisch, 1/8/11 survivor) on FB.
Caleb Keeter, guitarist for the Josh Abbott Band, on his twitter feed today.
“I’ve been a proponent of the 2nd amendment my entire life.
Until the events of last night. I cannot express how wrong I was. We actually have members of our crew with CHL licenses, and legal firearms on the bus.
They were useless.
We couldn’t touch them for fear police might think that we were part of the massacre and shoot us. A small group (or one man) laid waste to a city with dedicated, fearless police officers desperately trying to help, because of accss to an insane amount of fire power.
Enough is enough.
Writing my parents and the love of my life a goodbye last night and a living will because I felt like I wasn’t going to live through the night was enough for me to realize that this is completely and totally out of hand. These rounds were powerful enough that my crew guys just standing in close proximity of a victim shot by this fucking coward received shrapnel wounds.
We need gun control RIGHT. NOW.
My biggest regret is that I stubbornly didn’t realize it until my brothers on the road and myself were threatened by it.
We are unbelievably fortunate to not be among the number of victims killed or seriously wounded by this maniac.”
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
And the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, while dodging machine gun fire.
Sorry, I forgot, it’s ALWAYS too early to talk about gun control.
“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
You are being sarcastic, Tom, but that statement is absolutely true. Think real hard, Tom, and tell me of a time when it wasn’t true.
On October 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, you complete moron.
“On October 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, you complete moron.”
Wrong, as usual, Tom. What stopped the shooter in Las Vegas was the knowledge that good men with guns were coming for him. He killed himself rather than be captured, but had it not been for the good guys with guns (the police) he could have gone on killing as long as he had ammo.
Don’t forget – or ignore – the fact that all those people in his killing zone were good people without guns. They were helpless. It took good people with guns to put an end to his murderous rampage.
It may not be to your liking, but in ANY situation like this, the earlier good people with guns enter the fray the sooner the killer is stopped. And even though you were being sarcastic, when you said: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun., you were absolutely correct. Sorry to disillusion you…
Nothing? There were good guys with guns in the crowd.
All 22,000 of those people could have been carrying and it wouldn’t have saved one life.
This guy didn’t walk into a club or office. He spent a year buying 33 guns, modifying them for maximum kills, and it was all legal.
The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to not let him have a gun to begin with.
We need to lift the laws the NRA bought and paid for, like no government money to study gun violence, and no digitizing gun records, and people who believe they need military grade weapons in case they need to overthrown the government need to admit something.
That the 2A blood of tyrants crap means they’re willing to kill American soldiers.
What a messed up world the NRA has created.
“The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to not let him have a gun to begin with.”
Well that is a blinding glimpse of the obvious, Tom, but exactly how would you do that? The only way you might do that is to ban guns entirely. Of course, where that has been tried it hasn’t worked, but at least they would be doing “something”, eh, Tom? That “something” would be unconstitutional, stupid, and ineffective, but it would be “Something”.
“What a messed up world the NRA has created.”
No it hasn’t. The Constitution reserved the right to the people to keep and bear arms. The NRA has simply been in the vanguard of protecting that right. I thank my lucky stars that the NRA exists because there are too many people like you that want to ignore the Bill of Rights in order to feel better. You have no problems creating new rights under the penumbra of the Constitution, but you like to ignore rights that are specifically spelled out.
“All 22,000 of those people could have been carrying and it wouldn’t have saved one life.”
Nothing quite like getting irrational and ranting, is there, Tom? Even if they could not help themselves, other good people with guns DID put an end to the killers rampage. You are grasping at straws to support your contention which is wrong to begin with. It was a nice try, but 2 seconds worth of thinking makes it clear you are wrong.
Let’s try a little more than just two seconds of thinking and see what we come up with instead.
The shooter planned on killing as many people as possible, and he took the good guy with a gun out of the picture by taking a sniper’s roost up high and far away, where a good guy with a gun was unlikely to return accurate fire.
There were dozens of people on the ground with guns, including event security, and even some of the performers.
Crew members said they had plenty of weapons but they were afraid to get them in case they were mistaken for being part of the American carnage. A lot of those musicians and crew are hunters and grew up in the South, they grew up with guns.
The “good guy with a gun” garbage is about someone being there and able to stop the bad guy. That was in no way the case this time, as anyone who spends more than two seconds thinking about it.
The “good guy with a gun” fantasy is sold as a reason for concealed carry. Including law enforcement doesn’t fit with the “a gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone” sales pitch.
It’s inconsistent. You can’t say cops are not the answer and then turn around and include them in the fantasy when it suits your need.
And shame on you claiming a military background and not understanding how an ambush works.
Address my point about studying gun violence, and none of the John “The Dog Ate My Homework” Locke garbage, and allow the digitalizing of gun records. Why is the NRA against these things?
You’re understanding of the 2A is flawed, and for someone who claims to know something about history I can only assume you are just spewing NRA talking points.
The NRA used to be about sport hunting and gun safety, they sponsored the gun safety course I passed when I was a ten year old boy scout.
Since then they have become the marketing arm of the weapon makers.
The result of decades of their lies and blocking common sense gun laws can be seen in the senseless deaths of 58 Americans, and the 500 others who have been scarred and in some cases disabled.
Hundreds of others, maybe thousands, of people who just wanted to enjoy a weekend of music, are going home with PTSD.
Civilians in America with PTSD.
This is demonstrably the world the NRA created, at least for anyone knowing the history of the NRA.
And the blood of those dead and wounded is on their hands no matter how you look at it, they’re policies led to Las Vegas.
Hey, here’s a fun fact, crime is still near all time lows compared to the 1970s, but there has been a slight uptick in the last two to three years.
And what has been happening in the last five or so years? Rolling back gun laws by state and local governments across the country.
This message is out of sequence and I apologize for that, but there were no more opportunities to reply to the message directly.
Thank you or taking the time to reply, Tom.
“It’s inconsistent. You can’t say cops are not the answer and then turn around and include them in the fantasy when it suits your need.”
When people say, “the cops are not the answer”, they don’t mean the police have no place in the equation, they are simply saying that there are not enough police officers to be everywhere all the time. People have a responsibility to facilitate their protection from crime and criminal behavior, but they have no responsibility to replace the police.
”…he took the good guy with a gun out of the picture by taking a sniper’s roost…
Yes, he did, and in this particular case, the Police were the only answer that worked. However, in the VAST majority of situations that is not the case and a regular person with a gun can – and often does – keep such incidents from getting worse.
” The “good guy with a gun” garbage is about someone being there and able to stop the bad guy.”
It is certainly arguable that you are correct about what many people think that phrase means. Unfortunately for your argument, though, is that many people view the phrase the way I do: An armed populace of law abiding residents, in conjunction with the police, are better at crime suppression, stopping criminals and keeping people from being harmed and/or killed. The police by themselves is not enough.
”And shame on you claiming a military background and not understanding how an ambush works.”
If I thought you were serious with that throw-away line, I would feel bad because it would mean I have been arguing points with a moron. But you are not a moron and I have to assume that just made you feel better to toss it out there in the hope it would be offensive.
”Address my point about studying gun violence, and none of the John “The Dog Ate My Homework” Locke garbage, and allow the digitalizing of gun records. Why is the NRA against these things?”
Your question had the answer…unless gun violence studies arrive at the conclusion guns are bad, the study will be dismissed as “flawed and inaccurate”. John Locke has made several studies that indicate gun ownership is a good thing, but because of those findings gun control proponents dismiss his work. Why would anyone peak in favor of gun violence studies when the conclusion is already out there: Guns are bad!
Digitizing gun records is not far from gun registration which makes it easy for the government to seize from law abiding residents. That isn’t a theory, that is what has happened in EVERY state that pushed gun registration and made it law. Records of weapns will be used for eventually seizing guns. That is why the NRA and I oppose these things.
”You’re understanding of the 2A is flawed, and for someone who claims to know something about history I can only assume you are just spewing NRA talking points.”
No, it isn’t. I am very familiar with the arguments as to what it means and those people that think it refers only to the National Guard and the Reserves are wrong. Plain and simple. Like all the amendments in the Bill of Rights, the 2nd Amendment is a right reserved for the “People” and means the individual has the right to keep and bear arms. It is not a collective reference where, unlike all the other Amendments, the 2nd Amendment right does not refer to individual rights.
”The NRA used to be about sport hunting and gun safety…”
It still does stand for that but it also stands for the 2nd Amendment as a basic right and fights hard to keep proponents of gun control from just ignoring it. The NRA is not a one trick pony.
”The result of decades of their lies and blocking common sense gun laws can be seen…”
There is no such thing as a “common sense gun law”. That phrase is designed to lull less informed people into a sense of false security that everything is good about the laws gun opponents want so badly. Everything the gun opponents try to put into law is called “common sense gun laws”, regardless of how draconian it may be.
I don’t know if that security guard had a gun, but he does seem to have stopped the bad guy.
And, let’s talk about gun violence and saving lives. The single most important law you could pass to save lives would be to allow concealed carry in our major cities.
Compare Phoenix with less than a third of St Louis’s murder rate.
The good guy with a gun phrase is generally meant to mean everyone should carry a weapon at all times for self defense.
Not security guards and LEOs.
We are the only first world country where this happens on a regular basis.
More guns equals more dead people. Ask Australia. Ask Britain.
And while gun crimes are still near all time lows compared with the highs of the 70’s (and we have about twice as many people now), there has been an uptick in the last two or three years.
And what’s been happening for the last four or five years? State and local governments have been deregulating firearms.